Robin Paggi

Robin Paggi is the Training & Development Specialist at Worklogic HR, a human resources outsourcing company in Bakersfield. She creates and delivers training on topics such as harassment prevention, supervisory skills, communication, and conflict resolution. She also provides individual professional development coaching and co-authored the book Managing Generation Z: How to Recruit, Onboard, Develop, and Retain the Newest Generation in the Workplace.

 Photo provided by Robin Paggi

What are conflicts like at your workplace? Do people battle it out until there’s a winner? Are conflicts buried under the rug until someone quits? Or, does everyone involved engage in fact-finding and perspective-sharing while working toward mutual understanding and a win-win outcome? I’m willing to bet it’s not that last one and here’s why: it doesn’t come naturally, and most people haven’t learned how to do it.

People tend to have a conflict style that has developed over their lifetime based on a blend of personal characteristics, life experiences and family background, according to William Wilmot and Joyce Hocker, authors of the textbook "Interpersonal Conflict." They say that by the time we’re adults, our basic orientation to conflicts has developed and remains fairly consistent. Our conflict style can serve us well, but it can also work against us. Here’s how: